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Madara Rider

Madara Rider

The Madara Rider, representing the figure of a knight triumphing over a lion, is carved into a 100-m-high cliff near the village of Madara in north-east Bulgaria. Madara was the principal sacred place of the First Bulgarian Empire before Bulgaria’s conversion to Christianity in the 9th century. The inscriptions beside the sculpture tell of events that occurred between AD 705 and 801.

Outstanding Universal Value

Brief synthesis

The Madara Rider is a unique relief, an exceptional work of art, created during the first years of the formation of the Bulgarian State, at the beginning of the 8th century. It is the only relief of its kind, having no parallel in Europe. It has survived in its authentic state, with no alternation in the past or the present.

It is outstanding not only as a work of Bulgarian sculpture, with its characteristically realist tendencies, but also as a piece of historical source material dating from the earliest years of the establishment of the Bulgarian state. The inscriptions around the relief are, in fact, a chronicle of important events concerning the reigns of very famous Khans: Tervel, Kormisos and Omurtag.

Criterion (i): The Madara Rider is an exceptional work of art dating from the beginning of the 8th century. It is the only relief of its kind, having no parallel in Europe.

Criterion (iii): The Madara Rider is outstanding not only as a work of the realist Bulgarian sculpture but also as a piece of historical source material from the earliest years of the Bulgarian state, since the inscriptions around the relief chronicle events in the reigns of famous Khans.

Integrity

The rock relief of the Madara Horseman encompass within its boundaries sufficient elements for its presentation. It lies within an archaeological reserve that includes other archaeological monuments, up to 2000 years old. The defined boundaries, and the protection zone, ensure the conservation of the property's surrounding.

Due to the uncertain stability of the supporting rock, the relief has a serious and enduring conservation problem, although changes in the integrity of the property are not significant. A combination of wind erosion, and surface water run-off from heavy rain and melting snow, together with biological coatings, is causing the rock to erode. The property has been subject to numerous archaeological, geodesic, geological, hydrological, static, seismograph, physical chemistry and, lately, microbiological research investigations. These exceptional research efforts have been incorporated into a database, the results of which have defined the parameters for immediate conservation interventions. In 2007 an international project, seeking solutions for the conservation of the relief, was concluded and an evaluation of proposed interventions is pending.

Authenticity

The form and design, location and setting, materials and substance, and spirit and feeling of the Madara Horseman relief have retained their authenticity.

Protection and management requirements

Management is implemented by virtue of:

- Cultural Heritage Law (Official Gazette No.19 of 2009) and subdelegated legislation. This law regulates the research, studying, protection and promotion of the immovable cultural heritage in Bulgaria, and the development of Conservation and Management plans for its inscribed World Heritage List of immovable cultural properties.

In addition, secondary legislation, issued by the Government in 1981 (Ordinance No. 22 on Protection of the Historical and Archaeological Reserves of Pliska, Preslav and Madara, promulgated in the Official Gazette No. 14 of 1981) also applies.

In order to ensure the conservation of the relief, there is a need to implement the proposed interventions drawn by the 2007 International project.